Skipping some days, Ryo successfully entered the elite school. After a demanding exam testing one's magic amplitude, He is now successfully enrolled and placed in the temporary class 1-B, the second-highest classroom for the first year.
This is not a big deal for him, he feels like this is just another trivial chapter of his life.
June 3, 2121,
He found himself standing in front of his classroom, slightly nervous and reluctant as he only lived his life in isolation. Forcing himself, he opened the sliding door.
Inside were students, whose gaze turned at him as soon as he opened the door, and stared at him. Shrugging off the tense gazes of his classmates, he sat at his assigned seat near the window.
The room was futuristic and advanced. The room was white, with a whiteboard on the left half of the front wall, and a huge black monitor on the right half.
The seats were white, and had a comfortable white cushion attached.
Above them were bright, white lights, coming from an LED light just underneath the room-sized square ceiling, along with several small circular ceiling lights.
Basically, everything about this room screams "expensive."
Ryo looked in awe at the advanced classroom.
I never thought this is how modern schools look like right now.
He thought to himself, when suddenly, he heard a voice that obliterated his thoughts.
He doesn't want any communication with the others whatsoever. But, one student, in particular, walked up to him.
"Hey there, "
He turned his head to look at her. A girl with long, brown hair and beady blue eyes, wearing their white uniform greeted him with her cheerful voice.
"What is it?" He said in his cold and uninterested voice.
"You are the new student, aren't you? Nice to meet you! I'm Ayane Hina!"
She extends her hand, offering a handshake. But Ryo only looked at it.
A peace offering, maybe? That's one weird way to think of it. She seems like the kind of girl who makes friends with everybody. However, that contradicts my interest. I do not want to make friends.
Those things could attach me to a potential backstabber that may ruin my chances in this school.
My purpose remains solely on graduating and maybe even making my Mom happier by getting an award or two.
"..."
"What's wrong? I want to be friends with you!"
"Friends? I have no interest in having one whatsoever."
"Why-"
"Please, if you don't have anything more to say, please leave me alone."
He turned his head away from her. His cold behaviour caused Hina to feel somewhat distant and unpleasant about him. But, she's a congenial person and she wants to be friends with everyone.
As she was about to talk to him once more, she was stopped by another person."Hina, you can't please everybody, Please refrain from doing your usual"Another high school girl stopped her."
I see. Well then, Kyosuke-Kun, see you later!"
They walked off and away from Ryo. He lets out a sigh before staring out to the window once more.
The school itself isn't bad in terms of first impressions. If anything, this academy is one of the best. However, from the chitchats I've heard from making my way here, this is an academy that is being led by students, rather than adult teachers and advisers. There is a governing organization here composed of elite students that manages the whole school, from bills to events, and to everything, or so at least that's one of the things the random student earlier was blabbing about.
Ryo stared out on the window while still pondering. The clear sky, with the beautiful sets of flying birds, brings calmness within him.
However, it didn't last long. Soon, the door opened, obliterating the serenity. Looking at what the ruckus was all about, he saw a middle-aged person with messy hair and glasses walk inside his classroom, carrying a sword in his left hand and a book in the other.
It must be the teacher,
He thought to himself. And, he was right. As the teacher entered, the students quickly settled down and the whole room was filled with silence. He stood in the middle and threw the book at the table.
He didn't say any words, but instead grabbed the chalk and started writing, the teacher wrote his name on the blackboard.
"I'm Hiroshi Asahi, your teacher for this school year."
He said in his deep, mature, yet somewhat tired voice. The teacher shoots them a piercing glare before turning his back once more to them.
"Now, for today, you'll be learning on your own and no guides from me whatsoever. I'll give you all a question and the first answer that pleases me will be allowed to have lunch early."
The students looked at each other in surprise and confusion.
"Some of you might ask, if the other classrooms are being taught by their teacher, well if you want some old-school way of teaching, I can open the door for you to leave this class. What I look for in this class is creativity."
He began walking in the aisle on the right side and walked up to Ryo.
"What is your reason for entering here?"
The two stared at each other coldly for some time before Ryo opened his mouth to speak.
"Just to fulfil the wishes of someone."
"This is a prestigious school. Reaching the top here will give you a better reputation and a better future when you graduate."
"It depends on my mood. Maybe, if I feel like it."
"Suit yourself then."
Asahi frowned at his unexpected answer. Most people would die just to get to the top and earn immense reputation and fame. Some would even cheat for victory, that's how thirsty they are, and that's just how this world is.
Walking back to the teacher's table. Asahi looked at the students one more time. His eyes travelled to each of the students' faces. Some looked interesting, while some looked... for the lack of a better word, boring."Looks like this is gonna be a fun year."He mumbled in his breath, with a grin slowly forming on his face...
First PPOV
"Now, coming back to our topic, How many rooms does this whole academy have...?"
"What?!"
The students yelled in surprise. They were expecting a magic-related a magic-related question, but it turns out, it was a question about this school.
Most of the students in this classroom are new to this academy. It makes sense that most are panicking.
One of the students raised their hand, it was Ayane Hina. She slowly and nervously stood up.
"Uhmm...Sensei..."
She asked in her shaky voice.
"What is it?"
"I-Is this exam necessary?"
"It is. As I said earlier, I look for creativity. This homemade riddle will test your creativity and skills in finding answers to confidential and difficult questions. And for this test to be truly a challenge, I'll give no clues as to where the answer lies. That's all I can give you, you have exactly 24 hours to complete this. Any questions?"
With his goodbye words, He starts the timer and disappears out of sight using teleportation magic. With our teacher leaving the room, I looked at everybody. Some were frantic, while some still had their serious facade on, like that one girl on the corner across the room, particularly, a girl with long, flowy black hair, cold black eyes, and in her white uniform, who stared forward with her hands crossed together.
Looks like she noticed my gaze as she turned her head and met my stare. Her gaze was of an icy cold one, her eyes void of any warmness.
We locked eyes for a brief moment before she stared back forward.
Her aside, the class was in panic mode. I casually stood up from my chair and left the classroom. I should probably start solving that "unnecessary" problem. So the first question to be answered is, "Where do I begin?"
Looking back at what he said, there was nothing about where to start, so we must individually find a starting spot for this riddle. If I want to get information, what place would I go first?
Looking around and thinking of a place, a word came to my mind. That's right, the Library.
It contains many books and information. That's where I should probably start. I slightly peeked back at the classroom through the small door window. It seems like no one has the idea of roaming outside yet.
I turned around and continued making my way to the library. Based on what I remember on seeing the school layout map, the library is located near class A-1, turn to the right and at the end of the hallway is the library. I began walking towards the class of A-1, at the near end of the hallway I was in.
Following the right way, I arrived at the library. In front of me was a massive red door that seemed like it could only be opened by giants. But, in the slightest force of my effortless push, the door thud echoed as the enormous door opened.
Behind the door was a white, futuristic, modernized library, a vast ground full of shelves, with innumerable books inside the shelves and aesthetic lighting.
However, the unique thing about this library isn't just limited to its gigantic size. There are some "specialized areas" where they have studios and many digital monitors that can access the internet.
I stepped inside, and a gust of cold wind greeted me. Not many people are here at the moment. I should start by finding which shelves are books about the school.
I walked around, looking at each section of the Library, and as expected. Nothing. I burned myself out for nothing. I sat on a nearby couch and took a load off.
If not in the Library, then this is almost impossible. With a school this big, and you have no clues whatsoever, how can you solve this? Is he trying to tell us something?
Looking back once more at what he said. "Creativity".
Creativity, by definition, simply means to create something new into existence.
Perhaps one way to correlate "creativity" in answering his question, is having creative ideas to find the answer, similar to a pirate treasure hunting.
Or maybe, "creative" approaches to his question, similar to a riddle.
That's all I can give you, you have exactly 24 hours to complete this. Any questions?
Any questions...? There are a lot of questions. If this is a riddle, the first step is to analyze everything earlier. From the question itself to his intonation in saying so.
If I remember correctly...
He said it in a "non-questioning" way.
Then, if we were to piece together his non-questioning notation, that would mean that the "Any Questions" is just a statement.
But, that would be weird, considering that it can't be a statement... Maybe an unfinished one?
Or rather... Maybe he's indirectly asking if there is a question within his statements, designed to maybe fool us, and give the moral of not believing everything for what it seems.
I'm overthinking this.
Just as I was racking my brain, I was brought back to reality by some approaching footsteps. I turned around to look at the door. Entering was a group of unfamiliar students except for a particular one I awfully recognised, Ayane Hina.
"Oh, and then-... Oh, there is Kyosuke-Kun!" She exclaimed as ran up to me.
"What are you doing here?"
She asked with beady eyes.
"Well, I mean, the Library is the room for pieces of information."
"Oh, we also thought that looking here is the best option since the library has many books and we can search to see if there are clues related to the riddle!"
"Go on then."
I said nonchalantly before I placed my hands in my pocket and began walking past them.
"U-Uhm, how about you, have you found anything?"
"I didn't."
I said, before continuing towards the door and leaving the library.
Anyway, coming back to what was I'm thinking earlier, Is the question " Any questions?" the real question? Then the answer is simple. No, there aren't any questions in his statement. If so, that all adds up. In conclusion, there were no riddles to begin with. One only needs to analyze one's way of speaking and stating things. Well, that is if that's the case. But, another answer would be "Yes" as technically, the phrase "Any questions?" is a question itself.
That could be a "creative" yet, dumb answer. I don't know, I'll stick with it.
That being said, I walked back to the classroom.
...
Upon arriving back, I noticed that there were a few fewer students than earlier.
It seems like everyone left to seek the riddle's answer.
I promptly returned back to my seat and threw myself in, stretching like a cat as sleepiness slowly emerged in me.
I'm still in disbelief at how advanced this classroom looks.
As I was looking around, I noticed the girl from earlier at the far end of the room, simply stuck in her red headphones and a book, having no care whatsoever.
I thought her eyes were glued to her book, and she wouldn't notice me, however, her eyes fell upon me, and we locked gaze with each other.
Her eyes remained cold and unfriendly, accompanied by a small frown on her eyebrows.
"What's with the staring?"
She uttered in a resentful voice.
"I wasn't staring."
She only looked at me with dubious, cold eyes, before turning away and returning her gaze to her book.
Did she already figure out the answer? Good for her then.
Her posture resembles those of a noble, and maybe those cold eyes could be rooted in her upbringing as one.
Maybe she's one of those rich girls who doesn't want to talk often, yet is super smart.
Well, I don't want to think too much. I'll take a quick nap.
Holding onto that thought, I placed both of my arms on the desk and laid my head, before closing my eyes.
...
3RD PPOV
In a dimly lit room, with monitors all over, along with several luxurious furniture, and a lone candle serving the only light, resides two people, a student and a teacher.
The student was in front of a Laptop, surrounded by towers of paperwork around him, while Asahi, the teacher was at the round table behind, taking a sip of his tea akin to a lavish, rich man.
"Asahi-Sensei, What are you doing here? While the other teachers are all busy and everything, you're just here sipping your morning tea."
The student asked, having a clear suspicion in his voice.
"Well, Well, I could ask the same, what are you doing here when instead you need to attend some class? Hmm?"
He replied with a snicker on his face.
The student's face plasters a look of disbelief as he squinted his eyes at Asahi. He then lets out a sigh of exasperation, before looking at the stacked-up papers on his table. The stack of papers is so tall, that anytime soon, they could fall onto him.
"Blame the student council work! If not for this student council, I would be chilling in the classroom all day long. What about you?! You don't have a major reason to be here!"
He exclaimed in protest as he aggressively typed on his keyboard.
"Well, well, the students are taking their time solving one of my easiest puzzles. I just hope they eventually solve it."
"Just how hard is it that you have doubts?"
"It's easy. The same one I did when you were in the first year?"
"It is easy."
He let out a slight chuckle as he took another sip of his tea.
"But don't let out a chuckle yet just because I said it's easy! It's also dumb! There's no way a normal person would think of an answer like that! That is a dumb answer! You should do something related to their magic!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say."
He said with a laugh.
"*Sigh*, so Asahi-sensei, do you have any interesting students this year?"
"I'm not sure yet. Appearance-wise, sure. However, I'm still unfamiliar with them. I'll see to it in the upcoming exam."
"Upcoming exam, huh? I'm not excited."
The student replied with a straight face, his eyes still locked on the laptop monitor.
Asahi looked at him in confusion. This particular student he's talking to is a battle lover. In short, in every battle that is being offered to him, he takes it.
But this time, it appears as though he doesn't want to participate.
"What happened to you? Are you burned out from all the student council work?"
He asked with concern.
"I'm sure the others could do a good job. Look at me, I can't even go outside because of all this paperwork they're passing onto me."
He said along with a sigh. He looked at the paperwork in front of him with a discouraged face.
"I'm sure you'll get through this."
Asahi said as he stood up, and patted the student on the shoulder.
"Well then, I'll be going now."
"Sure, Asahi-Sensei. Go on."
He opened the door and left the dark room.